The Bar Council and Law Society yesterday issued a joint statement criticising Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s comments on the legal challenges brought against the government for their plans to send asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda.

The Bar Council has confirmed that the Bar Placement Week, launched seven years ago in London, has been introduced in Leeds and Manchester for the first time.

The Bar Council, which represents all practising barristers in England and Wales, announced new measures to help domestic abuse victims in family and civil courts. 

The Bar Council has come out in support of a new barrister training programme involving a two-part Bar Professional Course run by the Inns of Court, which should be cheaper for aspiring barristers. 

A statement posted on the Bar Council’s website highlights its support of trans, non-binary and gender-fluid individuals, and urges chambers to recognise that “some people are transgender and not everyone feels that their gender can be defined within the margins of gender binary.”

The Law Reform Committee of the Bar Council has announced the topic for its annual essay competition, sponsored by the Bar Council scholarship trust.

Both undergraduate and postgraduate students considering a career at the Bar are now able to get involved with the Bar Council, benefitting from a number of its services and helping to support its work on access to justice.

The Bar Council has revealed that women and Black employed barristers are most likely to have experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination at work.

The Bar Council has warned that the government's plans to introduce competitive tendering for legal aid contracts and deny defendants the right to choose a lawyer will undermine the UK justice system's good reputation among the international community.

One year after launching its Wellbeing at the Bar online resource, the Bar Council is introducing a certification system for chambers, inns of court and other organisations which adopt mental health and wellbeing policies. 

The Bar Council is the voice of the barrister profession in England and Wales.

Social mobility advocates, a new group of barristers from across England and Wales, have joined the Bar Council’s award-winning social mobility campaign – #IAmTheBar.

Last week, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) welcomed the publication of the Bar Council’s Pupillage Gateway report.

A report funded by the Bar Council has strongly criticised the trend of legal executive advocates and solicitor-advocates.

With people in the Midlands and the North of England in “dire need of early legal advice”, the Bar Council has called for the government to invest in local court systems ahead of today’s spending review.

According to the new report by Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC), “45% of the Young Bar reported a negative impact on their financial situation, higher still at 60% for those working in crime – as court work ceased in 2020, their earnings plummeted.”

After announcing that the opening date of the Pupillage Gateway application system would be moved from April to January from 2016 onwards, the Bar Council has now U-turned to say that the current timetable will remain in place (with applications being made in April and offers being sent out in August) until further notice.

The Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT), which all aspiring barristers must pass to gain a place on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), is to have its pass mark raised to exclude students who would be unlikely to pass the course or secure pupillage.